Hopeless in HOPE Week

Every year, for one week, the Yankees do good deeds.  They visit sick children and give attention to worthy causes.  You can't mock or criticize HOPE Week. It's a wonderful thing. But I can never forget that it's also the week Hideki Irabu committed suicide.

Yankee HOPE week has a tinge of "Ronald McDonald House" self-promotion. Yes, it's a great gesture, but it would be a little greater if they didn't parlay it so deftly into a p.r. blitz. It's like the Full-Employment Act for publicists. Still, if we're looking for purity or morality in sports - that ship sailed long ago, eh?

But make no mistake about the '13 Yankees: They have killed hope within their fan base. It's sad, because the team has fought hard to get where it is - fourth place in the AL East. And you can't blame the players, in the old Mel Hall or Raul Mondesi way. Travis Hafner and Vernon Wells are fine fellows. But when they step to the plate, I now leave the room.

I can't take it anymore. I cannot bear to watch them go through their mating dances with retirement. I can't watch another pop-up, grounder or whiff on a curve ball in the dirt. Hafner's biggest clutch at-bat recently was a four-pitch walk, while John and Suzyn marveled at his ability to not swing. Wells' moment in the sun came a moment later, in a double-play ground ball punched through a drawn-in infield. It drove home the winning run, and we doused him with Gatorade. Then they went back to their pop-ups.

I've fallen into the abyss - the sense that we're better off if they never get another hit. These small rays of hope merely prolong the agony.

Nobody in the minors can save this team. If Jeter and A-Rod were 10 years younger and healthy, they might rouse this offense. Now, it's going to be sad. This weekend, we'll likely rush Jeter back before he's ready. And today, A-Rod goes before Bud Selig's Clown Court, which - if ESPN is correct - has already reached its verdict. In fact, it made its decision months ago.

Nobody is coming in a trade. We are a team built from the scrap heap, and whenever I see a Cespedes or Puig, or a Harper or a Trout, I want to cry. It's been eight years since we welcomed a young, rising star - Robbie Cano. Now, could anyone blame him for running to a team next winter that will actually be trying to build a winner?

How can we be so hopeless?

Well, cheer up, dammit! We are on target to make our $189 million payroll! Rejoice, Yankiverse! And let us praise the Yankees for their good deeds. They are restoring fiscal integrity to the organization and helping a downtrodden charity - the Mets - become New York's top baseball team. (Look around, folks, they already are.) It's HOPE Week somewhere - no, everywhere - except here.